Zwinak Yet to Narrow List

Pete Cunningham

07/23/2009

Zach Zwinak's fluctuation atop the nation's top fullback rankings is debatable. His skills are not. GoBlueWolverine discusses recruiting with Zwinak and his head coach at Linganore High School (MD), Rich Connor.

Depending on the day of the week, Linganore's (MD) Zach Zwinak is either the top (or second ranked) fullback in the nation. Whether Zwinak or recent Alabama commit Jalston Fowler should own the top ranking is debatable, Zwinak's talent is not. The 6-2, 225 pound wrecking ball with 4.5 40 speed has a rare combination of vertical speed, elusiveness, side-to-side quickness, and pure power which will make him a valued commodity to wherever he decides to go.

"I've never coached anybody like Zach, to be honest with you. He's a rare bird," Linganore head coach Rich Connor recently told GoBlueWolverine.

Michigan's wide receivers coach Tony Dews has been in charge of recruiting Zwinak, and paid Linganore a visit during the school year. In terms of narrowing down a list of leaders, however, Connor said he and his star fullback haven't discussed it in detail yet. "It's a crap shoot. Who knows? I mean I don't know, he doesn't know. He likes everybody…He's one of those guys that's more into his training right now. Training and making a little bit of money is what he's been busy with this summer."

Zwinak echoed his coach's sentiments.

"I've been working little youth camps, helping out, and training for next year," said Zwinak. "I've talked with my mom and with coach and with my dad too, and we're working on narrowing schools down."

Zwinak's dad played football at Virginia Tech and his mom is a University of North Carolina graduate, but he said the Hokies – or any school for that matter – aren't being looked at any more favorably than the others.

"They're not really pushing a single school, they want me to go where I feel best at," said Zwinak. "I'm not sure exactly right now, especially for officials, I don't know what I'm doing yet. Even if it's just a few schools, there's a lot to think about, so I don't know what my favorites would be right now."

"We're trying to close up the tunnel. We're trying to get him up to Ohio State and Michigan because he's been on the east coast to the schools that have shown interest," said Connor. "I'm going to sit down, me and Zach and his family, and figure it out because we don't want to waste anybody's time. We want to get that done shortly and probably scale it back to four, five or six schools and let them know that Zach is very interested in attending one of the fine institutions that have been gracious enough to offer him a scholarship."

As college offenses evolve away from power formations, being the best fullback is a lot like being the best horse-and-buggy driver at the Indy 500. Zwinak's skill set, however, make him well suited to run the ball, pave the way for a second tailback, or switch over to the defensive side.

"I think fullback is coming back a bit. I think a lot of these two back offenses want a guy back there that can pave the way for a tailback, or do some things with the ball and have some skills there," said Connor. "Plus, he's can mess around and lay some tackles on somebody too…Zach's the type of kid, he'll play whatever's best for the team."

"I mean I'll play anywhere, as long as I get to play," said Zwinak. "For myself, I like running the ball. Going between the tackles, powering through, getting to that next level, then powering through everybody."